NITT 2017 Speaker Biographies

As a person in long-term recovery, Anthony has a strong desire to change the conversation around addiction and in turn, change the world we live in today. He is the President and Co-Found of Rise Together, a grassroots organization helping to lead a movement of young people to stand up and speak out on issues they care about most. Anthony and his organization aim to break the silence around suicide, bullying, mental illness, drugs, and alcohol. He speaks to students at all levels and has presented across the country.

Jill Arendt works as a Crisis Counselor Supervisor at Crisis Text Line, the first nationwide, 24/7 text-based crisis intervention service. As a supervisor, Jill oversees and supports the volunteer Crisis Counselors who engage in conversations with individuals texting into the hotline with various crises in real time. Jill guides and empowers the volunteers in utilizing good contact techniques and proveds live educations and feedback to ensure texters are receiving quality support. Currently, she works as their Head of Spike, where she leads and coordinates a team of Crisis Counselor volunteers who are prepped for rapid response in the event of high volume of people in crisis reaching for support. Jill graduated from Kent State University with a BA in American Sign Language and earned her M.E.D. in School Counseling from Lehigh Univeristy. Before joining Crisis Text Line, Jill worked as a Family-Based Mental Health Therapist, working with youth and families. She is passionate about improving equity within the mental health field for children, with a focus on deaf and hard of hearing, military dependents, and children from lower income families.

Johanna Bergan is an advocate for youth with lived experience in the mental health system and is working in the field of youth engagement to promote and encourage the inclusion of youth voice in policy change. As Youth MOVE National's Executive Director, Ms. Bergan assists chapters of the Youth MOVE network in creating youth-driven organizations working to unite the voices and causes of youth at the local, state, and national level. Ms. Bergan has nine years of experience advocation for system change. Her voice has been present on national platforms providing technical assistance and advising on the value of youth voice.

R. Scott Boots is the Founder and Director of the Health Cares Exchange Initiative, Inc. (HCEI). He received his MPA degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is also a graduate of the University of Iowa and Interlochen Center for the Arts. A caregiver himself, he has worked as a training and administration consultant with the Massachusetts Departments of Environmental Protection, Social Services, and Public Health, and served as a Co-Chair of Pastoral Care and Chair of the AIDS Support Committee at Trinity Church in the city of Boston. After founding HCEI in 1992, Scott studied wellness at the Touch Therapy Institute in Cambridge, MA and the Mind-Body Clinic at Boston's Beth - Israel internationally. Recent audiences include Mt. Sinai Health System - Chicago, Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, Oregon Alzheimer's Association, Great Iowa Alzheimer's Association, Chicago Medical School, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and the MN Academy of Audiologists.

Matt Calvert is a Youth Development Professor with the University of Wisconsin - Extension. he focuses on developing programs that create meaningful roles for youth in community leadership and decision-making.

James (Jim) Conway is a veteran trainer and speaker with over 25 years of experience providing training and consultation to youth-serving professionals and volunteers in educational and community-based organizations in the US and abroad. He has designed and delivered major training for the Search Institute since 1995. For the last decade, he also served as a lead trainer and presenter for Vision Training Associates. Conway has also served as a member of the national training team, National Institute on Out-of-School Time. Before he began training and consulting on positive youth development, Conway served for eight years as Director of Training at the Center for Early Adolescence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to his work with the Center, he spent 15 years as a youth worker in New York City.

Search Institute Fact Sheet

Elizabeth Cook is the School Psychology Consultant for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She holds an Educational Specialist degree in school psychology, as well as a Private Practice School Psychology license. She has nearly a decade of experience as a school psychologist in urban, rural, and suburban school districts and has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction since 2015. Elizabeth is the lead consultant for DPI's trauma sensitive schools work and is heavily involved in the development and evaluation of Wisconsin's School Mental Health Framework.

Sara Daniel, MSW, LCSW, is the Director of Clinical Services and Staff Development for SaintA, an agency that is leading the way in providing trauma-informed care to children and families in Wisconsin. Since 1997, Sara has been collaborating with school districts and early care settings to provide consultation and training in working with students affected by trauma, mental health issues, or behavioral challenges. She oversees a continuum of services that provide for students, families, and schools to support student success. Sara is currently a member of Trauma-Sensitive School Workgroup for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the co-author of the Trauma-Sensitive Schools Toolkit and Trauma-Sensitive Schools Learning Module Series. She has worked with countless school districts nationwide and trained over 12,000 school staff on the seven essential ingredients of the Trauma-Sensitive Schools. Sara is also certified in the Neuro-sequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) and is the leader of the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Interface Master Trainer Project for the state of Wisconsin.

Douglas Darby is a person in long-term recovery who is committed to setting the very spark in the person that will help change the world we live in. Now a distinguished motivational speaker, he has educated over 120,000 people across the nation. He is the Co-Founder and Community Outreach Director of Rise Together (RT), a program with a mission to create communities where today's youth can be heard, loved, and inspried to live in hope. Through that passion and commitment, RT was recently recognized by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Douglas speaks with passion, heart, and a powerful deliverance of redemption that not only motivates people across the nation, but also has helped to save the lives of our community's youth. By going out to ask the youth themselvs what they need most, he has been able to not only relate, but connect with the youth of today, taking on the real understanding that it is relationships, not programs, that fix communites.

Nancy Farnon-Molfenter has been working in the field of special education and disability services for more than 25 years and strives to support inclusive education and outcomes for all people. She earned a master's degree in special education from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in special education and rehabilitation psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nancy has worked as a special educator, transition coordinator, and administrator for both employment and home support agencies. She also served as a grant project consultant for the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities )BPDD) with the Let's Get to Work and Employment First state-wide projects. Nancy now serves as the Transition Improvement Specialist and Grant Director on the Department of Public Instruction Special Education team. In addition, Nancy teaches courses in the University of Wisconsin system.

Kirsten Funk is a remarkable 20-year old young woman who is passionate about helping other young people find recovery and healing. After a four-year battle with life-threatening depression and serious mental health concerns, Kirsten has found her way to healing, growth, and self-discovery. For the past two years, she has volunteered with the BC Child and Young Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative (CYMHSU) by sharing her story and advocating for better services for other young people. Kirtsen believes that sharing her sturggles has helped impact other youth, as well as addresss system barriers that prevent others from getting the help they need. She has trained emergency room personnel in a new province-wide ER protocol for youth presenting to ER's in mental health crisis, as well as serving on her CYMHSU Local Action Team. She was instrumental in opening the new youth wellness center in her community. She has recently completed training as a Youth Peer Support Worker with Fraser Health, and is now working in Abbotsford Regional Hospital with the Early Psychosis Intervention Program.

Christie Gause-Bemis is an education consultant working on the School Mental Health Project with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She has co-authored a curriculum, The Voyage: Working with At-Risk Youth, with her husband, John Bemis. She was a therapist in private practice prior to coming to DPI and has worked with at-rick youth throughout her 20+ year career. Christie is an adjunct faculty member at Lakeland University. She has worked as a county social worker, a school social worker, a treatment foster care social worker, as well as an in-home therapist, and a stress management instructor. This gives a multi-perspective look at issues that affect our youth.

Kyira is an artist, public speaker, mental health professional, and community advocate. With a master's degree in counseling psychology, her mission is to use her education and experiences to inspire and empower people to express themselves freely, take the next steps in their journey to self-discovery, and self-esteem work. She also infuses her own experienecs and lessons learned in all she does as a way to join with her audience and remind them that even at different points in the process, we are all on this journey together.

Sawyer Johnson is an educator and Political Science graduate from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. As a former GSA activist, Sawyer has an enduring place in their heart for young people doing such necessary work from a place of love. Sawyer currently serves GSAFE as the Transgender Justice Program Coordinator, where they co-facilitate Foundations of Leadership, faciliate the GSAFE Youth Leadership Board, and strive to do so with grace and authenticity. Sawyer is also a published poet and likes nothing more than the woods and great big bodies of water.

Kim Jones, M.A. Ed, began her teaching profession in the kindgergarten classroom. Upon her son's Asperger's diagnosis and prescription for life, "Immerse him in his strength and interest and he will succeed," she left her sixteen-year teaching career to provide her son an opportunity to detox his system and drive his learning. A year later, her daughter was diagnosed with Fetal Alchohol Spectrum Disorder and joined her mom and brother at home in The Jones Academy. She has now taken her experience as a parent, educator, and researcher to create her approach to seeing behavior differently, Just S.M.I.L.E., LLC.

Kestrel works in social work and strives to be an intersectional activist. They have employment experience in crisis intervention, case management, and long term care. They have a degree in gender and woman's studies and social welfare from UW-Madison. Kestrel is a grassroots tran activist and community builder. they are an LGBT+ educator and advocate striving to educate mental health providers about providing culturally competent care to people, regardless of gender and sexuality.

Josh Lapin, MSSW, has over 20 years of experience in supporting people with developmental disabilities. He is currently the director of the Community Training, Intervention, and Evaluation Services (TIES) Program which is part of the University of Wisconsin's Waisman Center. The mission of the TIES program is to address the behavioral, psychological, and emotional needs using therapeutic approaches that assure continues participation in supported community life. he has extensive experience as a consultant and advocate for persons with developmental disabilities. He stongly believes that a positive relationship is vital in promoting pro-active behavioral support. Mr. Lapin also teaches a field seminar at the School of Social Work for undergraduate and graduate students interested in disability.

Tim Markle is the Director of the Southern Regional Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs at the Waisman Center, where he has been employed for over eight years. He has a master's degree in counseling and Christian studies, and is a trained facilitator. Tim also teaches a course called "Freedom through Forgiveness" in the Stoughton area, where he lives with his wife and two teenage/young adult children.

Nikrya McCann has been an inspirational speaker for seven years. She is the Founder of Still Standing Enterprise, where her mission is to give hope for a brighter future. Nikyra was diagnosed with a mental illness, but she believes that the storm she faced was menat to give her the opportunity to improve someone else's life. Nikyra finds guidance in her faith and enjoys speaking on any occasions where she may be able to encourage others.

Nikyra has volunteered witht he Peace Network, Inc., a mental health consulting service and has had many years of experience with youth mentoring. She is grateful fo rher experience thus far and is pushing each day to gain more knowledge to help others.

Nikyra believes not only in making someone feel beautiful on the inside, but also making them look beautiful on the outside. She hopes to one day open a salon for individuals battling a mental illness. She is currently a sophomore pursuing a degree as a youth counselor. Her passion is to give the youth of today knowledge, so that they may not need to experience her hurt and trauma. "Smile... you have been though so much, yet you are still standing."

Sue McKenzie has led the development of educational programs and collaborative projects in the mental health field at a local, state, and national level. Ms. McKenzie provided national training under grants from CDC and the Department of Education. As the Program Director for Rogers InHealth and facilitate lead for Wisconsin's Initiative for Stigma Elimination (WISE), she works through partnerships to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. Innovative program design, collaborative leadership skills, and a tenacious passion to share the reality and hope of recovery are key assets she brings to Rogers InHealth and WISE.

For the past two years, Dr. Jennifer Mervyn has served as the Practice Initiative Lead for the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative for the Fraser Region working for Doctors of BC. In this role, she has helped support grassroots approaches to systems change that increases access to mental health and substance use services for youth and their families. In addition to supporting community change, she has worked in a provincial capacity with government, advocating for policy and practice changes that support a better system for care for families in BC. Prior to this role, Jennifer has worked for the Ministry of Children and Families in British Columbia (B.C.) as a Registered Psychologist doing clinical and consultative work in child and young mental health. Jennifer has also served as the Child and Young Mental Health Consultant for the region.

Jennifer completed her Ph.D. in the department of Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia in 2006 and received multiple awards, including the UBC Young Alumnus Award for her dissertation research. Her research included a video ethnography depicting the strengths and resilience of four female youth from B.C. who were able to turn their lives aound, and revealing the systematic challenges in helping youth access services and make successful exits off the streets. Jennifer also teaches parttime in the graduate department of Counselling Psychology at Trinity Western University, and has a private practice in White Rock.

Previously, Jennifer worked as a Crisis Clinician for Fraser Health, for a regional program working in hospital emergency rooms and schools doing assessments and counseling for youths under age 19 in acute mental health crisis. Jennifer's clinical and reseach background is in working with homeless and high-risk youth with complex psychiatric and substance use presentations. She specializes in using expressive therapies, including indivial and group photo-therapy, with at-rick and street involved youth.

While Jennifer loves clinical work, her heart is set on making mirco-level change that will impact her work on the front line. Jennifer is Metis, and a strong advocate for the Indigenous community. She sat for seven years at a federal funding table for Aboriginal issues, and has been a member of the Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Homeslessness Steering Committee for the last decade.

Erin Miller is an adult on the autism spectrum working at two jobs. She is re-evaluating what to do in order to build a career and make a sustainable living. Erin is an incredible advocate with experience speaking at conferences regarding issues of employment and speaking to local, state, and federal legislators. Her grassroots advocacy efforts have profoundly impacted our community.

Val Neff is a Certified Peer Specialist who holds in psychology and music performance from Lawrence University. She is employed with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Fox Valley as the Assistant Director at Iris Place Peer-Run Respite. She co-facilitates the Alternatives to Suicide support group, as well as the Young Adult Support and Transition group. She first became involved with NAMI Fox Valley as a speaker with the Ending the Silence program, sharing her mental health recovery story with high students.

Val's background is primarily in serving adults and children with disabilities, both as a program aise with the Northwest Special Recreation Association and as a direct support professional with Clarity Care. She completed an internship with Lutheran Social Services' Eastwood Crisis program and has volunteered with NEW Mental Health Connection, the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, and the Victim Crisis Response Team. All of these experiences have instilled in her the importance of individualized, person-centered support, as well as the need for more strengths-based approaches in the human services field.

Claudine O'Leary is a Milwaukee-based consultant working to build a local program capacity to effectively support teens and adults with lived experience in the sex tades and street economies. She has been appointed to the Wisconsin Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force. Claudine also leads teen leadership development groups in the community and with girls places in the Milwaukee County Juvenile Detention. She's been working with teens in the sex trades for over 25 years.

Gabrielle O'Neil is a writer, artist, eternal student, athlete, mental health activist, speaker, performing arts consumer, and captain of all things silly! Gabrielle has worked as a peer specialist for NAMI Waukesha and NAMI Milwaukee, as well as partnering with MHA and WISE, presenting on lived experience, stigma reduction, and suicide prevention. Gabrielle is active in youth mentoring, volunteering and activism, and she maintains visiblity and stigma reduction at the forefront of her personal efforts in suicide prevention. Though sharing her story she wants people to feel less alone, to feel a sense of hope.

Martha Saucedo graduated from the UW-Madison's Master's of Social Work (MSW) Program in 2010 and became a License Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in 2013, after immigrating from Monterrey, Mexico, where obtained a degree in psychology. Since 2010, she has been working as a clinical social worker at Access Community Health Centers as a Behaviotal Health Consultant with a LatinX Engagement Lead position working in the community to help understand mental health in the LatinX population. Martha has been an Assistant Professor in the Master's Program in Social Work at UW-Madison, teaching "Working with Race and Ethnic Groups in Social Work." Martha has been a strong advocate in the LatinX community working to create equality, educate the community, and provide mental health services. She is part of the Latino Health Council, a member of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association, and involved in recent research that compares minority groups with other groups in regards to mental health issues and treatments.

Joann Stephens is a mental health consumer and the parent of children with severe emotional disabilities. Ms. Stephens has been active in systems change work. She has taught recovery concepts, person-centered planning, and trauma-informed care to public and private service providers, community groups, and families and consumers of mental health services. Ms. Stephens has also partnered with many agencies and organizations in the state to educate others about best practices in mental health treatment through the lens of lived experience. In 2014, Ms. Stephens was hired as the Family Relations Coordinator at the Wisconsin Office of Children's Mental health in order to bring the voice of lived experience to policy and decision-making tables at the highest levels and promote meaningful family involvement within all systems that serve children.

La Toya Sykes is the President and CEO of Our Next Generation, Inc., an organization which provides academic tutoring, enrichment programming, and social support to thousands of students in the heart of one of Milwaukee's most challenged communties.

La Toya has worked to develop communities in 40 states through collaborative partnerships, training, and assisting students and families in reaching their higher education potential for over 20 years. She has directed the philanthropic efforts of organizations, committing over $46 million in funding, support, and resources for college outreach and access programs and professionals. She's collaborated with college access programs, community based organizations, colleges, universities, and state and national associations to create innovative partnerships that open doors to higher education to more students and families from all walks of life.

Ming Wang, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Program Administrator II, Utah Department of Human Services, is currently Prinicipal Investigator of Utah's Now Is The Time Health Transitions (NITT-HT) programs and Peer Paraprofessional Certificate Training Program. Ms. Wang has been the Principal Investigator of multiple Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded programs including Healthy Transitions, Partnerships for Youth-in-Transition, Systems of Care Expansion and Planning Grant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Abuse State Infrastructure Grant, and School Action Grant. Past experiences include coordinating refugee mental health, cultural competency, and rural mental health programs.

Gwen White is a content expert around the transition to independence and successful adaption of adult roles and responsiblities for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions and their families. She provides technical assistance to jurisdictions on system reform strategies that involve improved outcomes for youth and young adults of transitional age. Ms. White is active in national transformation activities, presenting and writing in the field. She has worked for over 35 years to develop innovative approaches to mental health service delivery for children, young adults, and families. Ms. White has played many roles in supporting families, youth, and young adults in multiple settings and systems, including medical, education, early intervention, child welfare, and behavioral health.

Ms. White joined the faculty at Georgetown University, National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health (NTAC), in 2009. She was the Senior Policy Associate and content specialist on young adults of tranistion age. From 2009 to 2014, she served as the Project Director for the Healthy Transitions Initiative (HTI). As the HTI Project Director, she provided and coordinated technical assistance from a diverse group of content specialists and facilitated training and technical assistance for seven states. She also provides technical assistance to other states on system reform strategies that involve improving outcomes for youth and young adults of transitional age. In October of 2014, Ms. White became a part of the staff of Healthy Transitions Training and Technical Assistance Center at the Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS). She serves as the Healthy Transitions Team Lead and as the Technical Assistance Liaison, supporting the efforts of the five jurisdictions which received Now Is The Time Healthy Transitions (NITT-HT) awards. In this role, she continues to support better outcomes for young adults with behavioral health concerns.

Tiffany Wilhelm has a master's degree in clinical psychology and has served youth populations for over 10 years. Tiffany's experience has a strong focus in crisis prevention, intervention, stabilization, and post-intervention for youth aged 5 to 24 with significant mental health needs. As a program coordinator, Tiffany provides administrative oversight for a crisis stabilization programs that includes training, mental health provider supervision, and provider note documentation approval, in addition to a federally-funded mentoring program for youth who have been sexually exploited. Tiffany is a skilled group facilitator providing psycho-education groups for anger management, sex education, and commercial sexual exploitation prevention.

Lindsay Woodbridge, MS, LPC-IT, SUD is the recovery coach for the Promoting Recovery from the Onset of Psychosis (PROPs) program in Richland, Sauk, Columbia, and Dodge Counties. She is proud to be working for an innovative program that makes a positive impact on the lives on consumers and their families. Lindsay completed her graduate work here at UW-Whitewater in the Department of Counselor Education.